Washington County Head Start / Early Head Start and Child Care Programs, New York

Home Based Services are an essential strategy. Based on 24 years of experience in the operation of Home Based programming, we have ample evidence that the Home Based option is a powerful and effective way to offer services to children and families. In this rural region of northern upstate New York, transportation is a major issue in terms of distances, expense and winter weather conditions. Low-income families with young children face a major challenge just to keep home and hearth together as they develop their relationship with their child. Meeting them in their home environment often best supports their efforts to meet this challenge, and it strengthens their identity as a family.

The Home Visitor and parent create a dynamic, on-going and trusting relationship, which supports the bond between the parent and child. The essence of the home visiting process is to establish a partnership between the parent and the Home Visitor, working together to create and sustain a warm, nurturing home environment for the young child. The Home Visitor’s charge is to build on the principles of adult learning to support parents as they foster the growth and development of their child.

Home Based Program: 66 children are enrolled in our Head Start Home-Based Program, which operates for 10 months a year, September through June, throughout the entire county. 70 children are enrolled in our Early Head Start program, which operates for a 10 month and 6 week summer schedule. The program operates out of the Dix Avenue Center. Fifteen home visitors each serve 10 families in designated areas. The areas served are outside the transportation areas of the centers, including Hampton, Fort Ann, Hartford, Hebron, Salem, Greenwich, Cambridge and Argyle.
Home visitors make regularly scheduled weekly visits of 1 1/2 hours to families in their homes. In addition, Head Start children come together for peer group experiences from 9:00 - 12:00 every other Monday in the Dix Avenue Center. Early Head Start children and their families have Nurturing Day experiences available weekly in the Dix Avenue Center and Cambridge Valley Center.